FREE ESSAY ON POLISH SOLIDARITY

POLISH SOLIDARITY

The Solidarity Movement in Poland
The Solidarity movement in Poland was one of the most dramatic developments in Eastern
Europe during the Cold War. It was not a movement that began in 1980, but rather a
continuation of a working class and Polish intelligentsia movement that began in 1956,
and continued in two other risings, in 1970 and 1976.The most significant of these
risings began in the shipyards of the 'Triple City', Gdansk, Sopot and Gdyniain 1970. The
first and by far the most violent and bloody of the workers revolts came in June of 1956,
when at least 75 people died in the industrial city of Poznan. The third uprising took
place in 1976 with workers striking in Warsaw, and rioting in the city of Radom. 
What made the Solidarity movement peaceful and far more successful in comparison to that
of the previous three? The Solidarity movement originated in the working class, but
unlike the previous three risings it also worked with and was involved with the Polish
intellectual community. Was this the reason behind its success? Or was it instead the
result of the U.S.S.R. losing its hold in the eastern bloc, and the fledgling economy of
Poland that made such a movement inevitable? While everyone of these points was a factor,
the strongest and most compelling argument can be made for the unification and working
together of Poland's most influential social classes, the Polish intelligentsia, the
workers, and the Church. This strategy eventually led to the infamous 'roundtable' talks
and the collapse of communism itself in Poland.
The 'Polish October' of 1956 did not begin with Stalin's death in 1953, in fact Poland
was quite calm, in stark contrast with other Eastern bloc countries. While demonstrations
took place in Plzen, Czechoslovakia, and a revolt was taking place in East Germany in
mid-June, Poland was slow to follow the 'New Course' that was being offered by
neighboring countries. This was a result of a much slower relaxation than the other
countries experienced. Regardless, social and intellectual unrest began building up, with
collectivisation being slackened and censorship showing cracks, the nation had a sense
that a new start must be made. 
The Polish intelligentsia was one of the most important groups to emerge during this
period. The Polish intelligentsia is, and remains, a distinct social class that is
composed of those with a higher education, or those who at least share similar tastes.
The Polish intelligentsia originates in the nineteenth-century, when Polish nobility
moved to the cities to occupy itself with literature, art, and revolutionary politics,
due to it's loss of estates and land. This distinct social group was feared and
recognized by both Stalin and Hitler, 50 percent of Polish lawyers and doctors and 40
percent of Polish university professors where murdered in World War II. The re-emergence
of this group leading to the 'Polish October' is significant in that it would play a
crucial role 25 years later. Unfortunately for Poland, the Polish intelligentsia and the
working class often led separate uprisings, and had trouble connecting in the causes that
they were fighting for. 
Many events and reasons, many similar to that of 1980 culminated to the uprisings in
October, and the crackdown that followed. The focus has to be put primarily on the fact
that it was only in part a workers rebellion, because the workers' movement in Poznan had
no central structure or leadership. It was instead a rebellion of the intelligentsia,
which was in a system that denied them access to the elite. The intelligentsia did not
put both movements together, the different social classes were divided in what they
wanted. It is incredulous that the intelligentsia did not look to make a concerted effort
with the workers, as it would not do in 1970 or 1976.
The New Power
The following events were the prelude to 1980, and they are tragic. On the twelfth of
December 1970, a series of unexpected price changes were announced. Consumer goods only
rose a small percentage in price, but certain foods had huge price increases. Flour rose
by sixteen percent, sugar rose by fourteen percent, and meat cost seventeen percent more.
On the next morning three thousand workers from the Lenin shipyard at Gdansk marched on
the provincial party headquarters. The workers were ordered back to work, the maddened
workers incited a riot. With fires started and stones thrown, the city militia could not
hold the masses back. On Tuesday, December fifteenth, the workers at the Paris Commune
Shipyard in Gdynia stopped work and demonstrated in the main streets. A general strike
was announced in Gdansk, and the police opened fire on demonstrators. Men on both sides
were killed. In the fighting the Party building and the railway station was burned down.
The next day the rebellion spread to the towns of Slupsk and Eblag, and the workers at
the Warski Shipyards in Szczecin were preparing to strike. Reports were coming in of
supportive strikes in other cities.
On Wednesday workers began occupation strikes in factories. On Thursday morning, workers
walking to the Paris Commune yard were fired on, at least thirteen were killed. Later
that day workers from the Szczecin shipyard surged out into the city, and street
fighting, costing at least sixteen lives, continued through Friday. By Saturday it
appeared a nation-wide strike would inssue. Twenty-one demands were drawn up by the
workers, one of which asked for 'independent trade unions under the authority of the
working class'. Although this was not achieved in 1970, it is apparent that this was
clearly a marking of a new era in the thought process of the Polish workers. The course
of action that Prime Minister Gomulka took cost him his job, he was the one who ordered
the use of fire arms against workers. Brezhnev himself advised a political rather than a
military solution. Gomulka's fate was sealed, and the reign of Gierek ensued.
The movement was far from over, but the most important parts had already happened. The
lack of the Polish intelligentsia was apparent in a face to face meeting with Gierek, and
other party officials, that the workers at the shipyards in Sczecin and Gdansk had on the
twenty-fourth of January, 1971. Gierek coerced the workers to stop the strike by
appealing himself as a Polish patriot, and a man that wanted to keep Poland from
collapse. These workers' neither had the thought nor the conceptualization that a
collapse could very well be what Poland needed. The intellectuals could have done exactly
what was done in 1980, the opportunity was just as ripe, but it passed, and another
opportunity would not arise for another five years. 
The government could do nothing but appeal to the workers to help them out, otherwise
more demands would have to have been met by them. In mid-February, with uneasiness in the
country, Gierek restored the old prices. This was the first time a decision by a
communist government was overturned by the working class, the class that theoretically
was in power. 
Although a larger victory could have been had, the workers had no concept of overthrowing
socialism, they merely wanted a better socialism. In 1976 another price increase went
into affect, this time raising meat prices by sixty-nine percent, and sugar prices by one
hundred percent. With memories of the successful 1970 campaign, on June twenty-fifth work
stopped all over the country. Almost immediately Gierek repealed the increases. It was
clear the working class had a lot of power, power that it had not yet maximized. Power
that the intelligentsia was only beginning to see as a source for future social change.
Solidarity
So far most of the work in revolutionizing Poland was done by the workers. So where was
the Polish intelligentsia that seemed to disappear from the landscape after the 1950's?
It was always there, but while it was respected by the workers, the Polish intelligentsia
had not worked very hard to unite itself with them. A social split existed that made the
intelligentsia feel somewhat superior to the workers, feeling a change could only be made
by intellectuals at the top. 
That view and feeling slowly changed, the biggest of these changes in social thought
appeared when the printings of illegal, uncensored leaflets and books by a group of
intellectuals calling themselves the Committee for the Defense of Workers' Rights (KOR)
and the Movement for the Defense of Civil and Citizens' Rights (ROPCiO) emerged. In
September of 1979, a press briefing by the Ministry of the Interior listed twenty-six
'anti-socialist' groups. These groups were not publicly denounced, but they were open to
beatings and imprisonment by the secret police. One of the major events to occur in 1977
was an informal alliance between the Catholic Church and the opposition. The Church would
be instrumental in uniting the cause of workers in the Baltic to those in other regions
of the country.
On the other side of the coin, Poland's economy was disastrous. In fact the national
income fell by two percent in 1979. Industrial output was showing negative growth of five
percent. From having one of the highest growth rates in the world, only five years later
Poland had an economy in such shambles that it was dependent on Western banks to keep
functioning. The time was perfect to strike.
On the fourteenth of August 1980 the members of a little group called the Free Trade
Union conspired to start a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, which employed 17,000
workers. The pretext was so a crane driver named Anna Walentynowicz, would get her job
back after being fired. The reason behind this was that she was one of the most powerful
orator's in the whole strike movement. They had tried to start a strike a month before
under the pretext of a meat price increase, but they had failed. This time they brought
posters and leaflets, which they promptly put up. They declared 'We Demand the
Reinstatement of Anna Walentynowicz and a Cost of Living Rise of 1,000 Zlotys'. 
Men quickly gathered around to read the signs and leaflets, ignoring the party officials
calls to go back to work. A mass meeting formed at one of the gates. Klemens Gniech, the
manager, argued and pleaded the workers not to form a strike committee. The meeting was
starting to loose steam as some workers began to go back to their jobs. At that moment, a
man embittered by the deaths of the strikes of 1970, maddened by being imprisoned over
one hundred times, stepped out. This was a man who was still furious over being fired
four years earlier from that very shipyard, a man who had a keen understanding of the
workers struggles, he jumped up to the bulldozer roof and yelled at Gniech Remember me? I
gave ten years to this shipyard. But you sacked me four years ago! His name was Lech
Walesa. He turned to the men and women below him and shouted that an occupation strike
would begin now. He was cheered loudly, and soon they were asking for him to be
reinstated also.
No one realized what this would set off. By the next day strikes began to spread
throughout the 'Triple-City'. The demands were far bigger now, even asking for the right
to establish free trade unions. The leaders began to negotiate with Gniech, but what they
had not realized was that the whole city basically gone on strike. The strike committee
agreed on a 1,500 zloty pay raise, and was ready to return to work. Walesa went outside
and announced the news, to his surprise he was jeered. He had misread the mood.
Instantaneously he changed his mind and went around the shipyard pleading everyone to
continue striking. The strike continued and it spread. One of the biggest developments in
the history of Polish strikes and uprisings happened soon after. Intellectuals came in to
help out the workers in drafting documents and demands. They began what eventually led to
the legalization of trade unions. They played for the high stakes, they issued ultimatums
that said that they would not negotiate until all political prisoners were freed. These
were demands that previously would not have been made. With both groups working together,
both benefited. The government, having no choice, complied. The rest, as they say, is
history.
The Solidarity Union would soon have ten million members, one-third of the Polish
workforce. The changes that ensued promised the downfall of socialism in Poland. Although
martial law slowed down the process in 1981, Solidarity was working in the underground.
Solidarity forced the roundtable talks that led to free elections in 1989, and the
eventual fall of communism, not only in Poland, but in all the Soviet bloc countries. 
The work of the Polish worker, and that of the Polish intellectual accomplished what many
thought would never happen. Poland is a country with a history of uprisings, all of which
failed, except for this one. No other movement connected the Polish intelligentsia and
the Polish worker. Would Polish insurrections have worked earlier in history if this was
also the case? One can always second guess, but it is clear the changes that occurred in
Poland, occurred because of the intellectuals working with the workers. They had the
vision, the workers had the mass to demand that vision to become a reality.
Bibliographic Report
Lamb, Matthew. Solidarity with victims: Towards a Theology of Social Transformation.
New York: Crossroad, 1982.
-deals with Sociology and Christianity. The role of the church during the solidarity
movement and why it helped to make it more of a successful and peaceful demonstration.
Lockwood, David. The problem of disorder in Durkheimian and Marxist Sociology.
Oxford; Claredon Press, 1992.
-Sociology and Philosophy. Durkheimian school of sociology is discussed as well as an
insight into the Marxian School of Sociology. Some discussions on social conflict.
Persley, Stan. The Solidarity sourcebook,
Vancouver; New Star Books, 1982.
-details labour unions. Discusses the working class in Poland and political activities.
Poland's politics and government in 1980.
Touraine, Alain. The analysis of a social movement: Poland, 1980-81.
Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1983.
-Outlines Poland's social conditions in 1945 and then Poland's Politics and government in
1980.
Weschler, Lawrence. Poland in the season of its passion.
New York; Simon and Schuster, 1982.
-Information on Labour organisations and their inner workings. Details on Poland's
industry from 1945-1980.
Zagajewski, Adam. Solitude: essays.
New York: Ecco Press, 1990.
-Some details on the intellectual life in Poland between 1945-1980. University system,
students and educators. What kind of society was developing. Polish author so the essays
are bias.
Microsoft Encarta 96 (1996). [CD - ROM Disk]. Microsoft Corporation.
-details on times, dates and places of protests.
Polish Solidarity Movement
Konrad Szczepanik
Student ID # 0058658
Prof. John L. Pratschke
HUMN 1050
Emergence of a United Europe
Bibliography
Lamb, Matthew. Solidarity with victims: Towards a Theology of Social Transformation.
New York: Crossroad, 1982.
Lockwood, David. The problem of disorder in Durkheimian and Marxist Sociology.
Oxford; Claredon Press, 1992.
Persley, Stan. The Solidarity sourcebook,
Vancouver; New Star Books, 1982.
Touraine, Alain. The analysis of a social movement: Poland, 1980-81.
Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Weschler, Lawrence. Poland in the season of its passion.
New York; Simon and Schuster, 1982.
Zagajewski, Adam. Solitude: essays.
New York: Ecco Press, 1990.
Microsoft Encarta 96 (1996). [CD - ROM Disk]. Microsoft Corporation.